November 20th, 2004
We went to Brampton to see the OBRY/CN diamond, in spite of very bad weather.
Brampton, Ontario
(map) Brampton is mile 15 of the CN Halton sub and mile 8 of the Orangeville-Brampton Railway (OBRY) shortline.
April 18th, 2005
Travelling to and from LinuxWorld Conference and Expo aboard trains 86 and 87, I managed to see a few interesting things. The way freight working at the junction of the Weston and Halton subs had an un-boarded CN caboose on it, the first I've seen.
April 19th, 2005
Travelling to and from LinuxWorld Conference and Expo aboard trains 86 and 87, I managed to see a few interesting things. CN #271 had an ex-CNW dash 9 on it heading West, though I wasn't able to get pictures of it. The afternoon's #275 and #385 kept me busy during our treck from the Weston sub to the Guelph sub on the Halton sub.
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CN #275 paces us on Via #87 coming up to Peel.
June 2nd, 2005
The OBRY runs 2 days a week across the Brampton diamond. We caught them going toward Streetsville, as well as catching NS #327/328 in the morning and some other interesting trains in the evening.
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CN #396 crosses the Brampton diamond.
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VIA #84 crosses Brampton diamond.
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CN #384 crosses Brampton diamond.
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The Orangeville-Brampton Railway's lone engine and 2 freight cars cross Brampton diamond.
April 26th, 2006
On the third and final day of the conference I tried to shoot GMD1 CN 1431 on CN #542 at HalWest, where it had been on Monday when I was not ready for it. It was a bit further than I hoped but I managed one telephoto shot through the window of VIA #86's LRC coach I was sitting in. I also shot a few GO trains and found myself riding behind VIA 916 for the trip home. VIA 916 had been the only Via P42dc that I had not shot in daylight, so I got ahead of it after getting off in Guelph and shot it crossing Alma.
December 23rd, 2006
We went to the Halton sub hoping for CN #278. We caught CN #271 at Silver Junction in Georgetown, CN #278 at Brampton GO station, then, with nothing else in the area, wandered up to Vaughan Intermodal Terminal to see what was happening there. CP #103 showed up shortly after we did with 5 AC4400CWs and 6 autoracks to pick up its intermodal cars, a yard job was working, and CP #104 took off with two SD90/43MACs light power. We returned home via Streetsville, where we just missed a CP eastbound, then headed to mile 30 where we caught CN #393 and #422, the latter being the only CN train of the day lacking foreign power.
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CN #278 with a BNSF war bonnet as the lone unit passes through Georgetown GO station ahead of VIA #84.
February 3rd, 2007
Steve picked me up and we went to Georgetown for CN #271 and CN #390, both with all-BNSF power, VIA #85 with 6429/Telus, Brampton to meet Dan and see CN #435 with CN 2204 on point and #338, Mount Pleasant GO station for GEXR #432 and CN #393 with a UP GEVO trailing, and back to Georgetown for CN #148 with two consecutively numbered ex-Alstom WCs.
April 22nd, 2007
We started our day dropping off family at Pearson airport where I got a call that there was a WC unit on 396 going over the Credit. Off we went to Bramalea GO via the 427 just barely tieing the train to the station and shooting it into the sun. From there we went to Georgetown for lunch and got another call, this time about a UP unit on CP #424 through Woodstock so we left without even stopping at the station catching CN #422 at the 10 Sideroad crossing at mile 30 by chance on the way through. We caught #424 at Puslinch, went down to Bayview where we caught CN #431 wyeing, up to Brantford where #580 was working and another phone call, this time about CP #240 through Woodstock with a SOO leader and 2 BNSFs. We rushed up to Cambridge, barely beating it to the bridge. He worked Cambridge for a while, lifting a unit, and then went off to make a brief set off at Guelph Junction. After getting #240 at Guelph Junction we went to mile 30 for CN #148 with a ratty war bonnet trailing and then came home.
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CN #396 passes through Bramalea GO station with a WC GP40 trailing.
February 3rd, 2008
I got X432 with several G26MC-2 export units for PJKA (Indonesia - Perusahaan Jawatan Kereta Api) and a handful of JT42CWR Class 66s for EuroCargo Rail at Brampton diamond on my way home from a meeting.
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CN #392 crosses Brampton diamond with 3 CN SD70M-2s.
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GEXR X432 crosses Brampton diamond in very last light with 5 Inodonesian G26MC-2 export units for PJKA (Perusahaan Jawatan Kereta Api) and 3 EuroCargo Rail JT42CWR series 66 units.
July 22nd, 2008
We took Via 84 and 44 to Ottawa for OLS.
July 26th, 2009
A 'blue banana', a Babcock and Wilcox 505-ton steam generator component, the first in about 5 years, spent 9 days sitting in the yard at Guelph. I received a report shortly after waking up in Parry Sound that it had left Guelph at 08:40. With the help of MDC, I was able to intercept it at Bramalea GO station with about one minute to spare. It spent the rest of the day winding its way down to Toronto harbour. While I had originally planned to chase it, the extremely bad weather dissuaded me.
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GEXR X432 with a 24-axle D9R load, a steam generator from Babcock and Wilcox in Cambridge, passes through Bramalea station on a very wet Sunday morning.
